Bruce, We Hardly Knew Ye!

Say it ain’t so! Universal theme parks announced it will retire its Jaws adventure ride starring that oh-so-popular mechanical shark, “Bruce.” (Bruce was the name of director Stephen Spielberg’s lawyer and affectionately attached to the trio of troublesome mechanical sharks used to film the original Jaws movie in 1975 – see my September post).

The verdict according to the news article: "Jaws" really was a relic. We've got CGI sharks now, and CGI-based movie rides like "The Simpsons Ride" and "Shrek 4-D." The next attraction to open in Florida? A "Despicable Me" 3D movie.

Really, you think the Simpson’s or Despicable Me could replace Bruce the eating machine? Get serious.

But maybe the real story here is that reality was first replaced with a robot and now that robot is losing its job to a bunch of digits – zeros and ones and some fly-by-night 3D. Nothing is safe. Nothing sure. It’s unnerving. If it’s Bruce today, which one of us tomorrow?